CONSTITUENCY DEVELOPMENT FUND - Transparency in Grass Root Development Or Political Patronage (REPORT)

| |

The government of Zambia has been providing the Constituency Development Fund as one of the tools for poverty reduction. The philosophy behind CDF is to have a fund in which communities can participate in different processes of project identification and selection. The ultimate goal is to use CDF to speed up development at community level by providing the much needed infrastructure such as roads, markets, schools and clinics etc.

As a Christian umbrella organization, we are concerned that communities are not benefiting much from CDF. In most cases politicians have dominated the whole process and the guidelines are not followed. The poor are left out of the CDF processes and as a result projects are imposed on communities instead of being a participatory process. If CDF has to benefit communities this has to change.

We believe that God has revealed himself as the God of love and justice. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you (Ps 89:14). Herein forms our involvement in the Constituency Development Fund as we would like to see love and justice become part of Zambia's socio-economic development. We believe that the poor have the right to participant in matters that affect that.

We have observed that CDF is a very important tool for delivering the much needed development at grassroots level. In our research we wanted to understand how transparent the system is and how people participate.

We would like to see the Constituency Development Fund continue but with change in the way that it's currently being administered. Our desire is to see the administration of CDF undergoing a review in order to make it more transparent and participatory. We would like to see communities participating more and claiming their space in CDF processes.

Gender and Good Governance

| |

EFZ in collaboration with its donor, Norwegian Church Aid (NCA), have been working together for the last few years on issues around gender and good governance in Zambia. A major stepping stone for EFZ, and the church mother bodies, was the signing of the Zambian Church Declaration on Gender Injustice and Gender-Based Violence (GBV), in 2009.It is from this achievement and commitment that EFZ’s program therefore aims at eradicating Gender Injustice (GI) and GBV through training and sensitization in the church and communities. These efforts are to be seen as an ongoing process as church members act as the change agents promoting gender equity, equality, good governance and human rights in the churches.

EFZ has to this regard has been involved in participating and raising awareness around campaigns such as International Women’s Day (IWD) and the 16 Days of activism against GBV. Program officers have been organizing training workshops for theological students, lay church leaders, the clergy and the youth with the intention of increasing participation and providing a safe space to handle GBV or GI within their own institutions and society.

Words of Wisdom

"True peace is not merely the absence of tension, it is the presence of Justice." -- Martin Luther King, Jr

CDF Report

Joint Pastoral Statement

A joint pastoral statement on the 2011 tripartite elections from the three church mother bodies: Click to read.